3 Shops Tee Off For PGA Tour’s World Golf Championships

D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, Troy, Mich., has surfaced as a late entrant in a review for the PGA Tour’s World Golf Championships account.
Sources said DMB&B made a presentation to PGA Tour officials last week, following earlier pitches by the client’s agency of record, GSD&M in Austin, Texas, and Foote, Cone & Belding in Chicago. A decision is expected this month. Initial spending is not expected to exceed $5 million.
DMB&B declined to comment, and officials at the Ponte Vedra, Fla.-based client could not be reached at press time.
DMB&B is the national agency for General Motors’ Cadillac division, a sponsor of the Senior PGA Tour. Cadillac also has an alliance with PGA Tour golfer Fred Couples. Sources said those connections helped DMB&B gain entry to the pitch.
The winning agency will be asked to promote a new series of tournaments backed by PGA Tour organizations in the U.S., Europe, Japan, South Africa and elsewhere. The World Golf Championships will be held next February at La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., where 64 of the world’s top players will compete. Two other events are also scheduled for 1999, one in the U.S. and one in Spain.
It’s not clear which media will be used to promote the events, although GSD&M’s work for the client includes TV advertising. The agency’s latest TV branding campaign, which aims to lure viewers from other sports, uses the tagline, “These guys are good.” –Steve Krajewski and Tanya Gazdik